With the heavy rains from Hurricane Matthew, the Ashville Park section of Virginia Beach had major flooding. Here, a doll house from Matt Tonelson's garage drys on the front porch Monday, Oct. 10, 2016.

With the heavy rains from Hurricane Matthew, the Ashville Park section of Virginia Beach had major flooding. Here, a doll house from Matt Tonelson's garage drys on the front porch Monday, Oct. 10, 2016.

VIRGINIA BEACH

He had just come home from vacation on Sunday afternoon and was forced to park in a field on the outskirts of the Ashville Park subdivision in the southern part of the city, where he’s lived in a two-story, 2,800-square-foot house for less than a year.

Boxes in his garage were soaked. When he and his wife tried to start her car Monday morning, water sputtered out of the exhaust pipes.

Kirkbride shook his head.

“What would have happened if we got the full brunt of it?” he said of Hurricane Matthew. “What’s going to happen next time?”

The city has been aware of flooding problems at the 450-acre development off Princess Anne Road since 2012, when it found “serious inadequacies” with the drainage system. But it says there is no quick fix.

Frustrated residents attended a City Council meeting last week, begging for help. Drainage around the houses, most of which were built after 2012 and range from around $400,000 to more than $1 million, didn’t seem to be working properly, they said.

When a nor’easter blew in a couple years ago, the streets and sidewalks flooded.

The neighborhood again was saturated 2½ weeks ago when a large storm system dumped several inches of rain. Water lapped against garage doors.

Then came Hurricane Matthew.

On Monday, many of the subdivision’s streets remained impassable, and retention ponds merged, forming lakes.

Ashville Park is a new development that has been in the works for more than a decade. The property, originally owned by L.M. Sandler & Sons Inc., was sold at auction after the housing crisis when only 28 lots had been built, according to a 2013 article in The Virginian-Pilot. Because of problems with the neighborhood’s infrastructure and no developer to hold accountable, the city took ownership of the drainage system around 2008, according to Deputy City Manager Tom Leahy.

The Public Works Department launched a study a few months ago to see whether the problems are the result of flawed design, faulty construction or both.

“Something’s clearly not functioning,” Leahy said.

The city is moving as quickly as it can and will do “whatever it takes,” he said, but the problem won’t be fixed in weeks or months.

Bishard Homes, a developer of lots within Ashville Park, said another company, California-based HomeFed Corp., is legally responsible for working with the city to fix the drainage issues.

“We’ve put them on notice that it’s a problem,” John Bishard of Bishard Homes said. “We sent an email to their vice president stating they need to get this resolved immediately.”

Bishard, who bought lots from HomeFed, said four of his company’s model homes have been affected by the flooding.

Chris Foulger, vice president of HomeFed, said Monday that for more than a year, the company has been building a stormwater model that would help diagnose and alleviate the drainage issues.

“It’s very complicated, but we’ve got experts working on that,” he said, adding HomeFed has 200 lots left to develop.

Ashville Park resident Tony Gower Jr. got up at 2 a.m. Sunday. He and his wife started removing belongings from the ground floor as she cried, he said Monday.

“We just knew it was coming in,” he said.

About 11 inches of water flooded into their garage, ruining tools and other equipment. Another half-inch, he said, and it would’ve been in their house, which they bought new less than three years ago.

Matt Tonelson, a homeowner who spoke at last week’s council meeting, got nearly a foot of water in his garage. It left a water mark on the walls and cabinets. At the homes of at least two of his neighbors, flooding ruined floors and furniture.

“We don’t know who is to blame,” he said. “At this point, I don’t care.”

Correction: 10/12/2016

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the original developer of Ashville Park, L.M. Sandler & Sons Inc., had declared bankruptcy. It should have said the development was sold at auction after the housing crisis when only 28 lots had been built.

More information

Virginia Beach is asking residents to avoid flushing toilets, washing dishes or laundry in an effort to not overburden the sewer system. Meanwhile, Chesapeake is asking some residents seeing flooding from the Dismal Swamp to stay in their homes.

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